Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Can you believe that this is my fifth SMS post in THREE DAYS?! The amount of news lately is nutty, and I still have at least three news posts to go before everything backlogged is cleared out! I love doing it though, and you guys need to know about all of this, so I don't mind! Today, we get to four bigger stories from my news desk, some of which have been postponed a few days thanks to the news pile I've had lately, but there's some exciting stuff here to check out! Let's begin, and remember to check out my first installment of our GarageBand Profile Mini-Series in the post below!

We start today with updates from Woods of Ypres as they continue their North American tour! Right now, they're in California, but these updates relate to the Western Canada branch of their tour! Firstly, bassist Shane Madden has launched an official tour diary over at Decibel Magazine, which you can read the first installment of at this location! Shane goes into great detail about the band's tour and the mishaps during it, though curiously doesn't go into enormous detail about the actual concerts, mostly the before and after parts. Great read though, embellished with Woods of Ypres videos/audio and some new concert pics to boot! Click here to check it out! If you check out the videos embedded with the tour diary, you'll notice a couple new videos, and I'll tell you about them too! Frontman David Gold uploaded a couple new concert videos onto his YouTube channel, which are the first full performance videos from the tour on his channel! One is yet another video of "The Sun Was In My Eyes (Part I)", though this time, it's from their Vancouver concert. Dark, but it's shot at a good angle, and the audio quality's good! The one I'm embedding here though is a video featuring the band performing two songs off of "Woods IV: The Green Album" ("Suicide Cargoload (Drag That Weight)" & "Halves & Quarters") from their concert in Prince George! It's filmed from the crowd, so it kinda feels like we were there! Great quality, check it out below!

Next up, we have tons of updates from local horror punk/metal band Frightlight! First up, the lineup has been finalized for Frightlight's benefit concert on July 17th at Foggy Notions, with a new local band named Jesus Chrysler joining The Fury as openers. No word on who's in Jesus Chrysler or what they play, but I'm told that they contain former members of Fitswitch, The Scary Uncles, and Strictly Classified. Good signs there, if the bands are any indication! It's also been announced that Inferno from local sideshow troupe Alowishes Grotesk's Traveling Tent Museum & Snake Oil Show will be there for a half hour of sideshow feats! I love sideshows, this'll be a fun and unique addition! It was also announced that there will be a potluck benefit before the concert at 1:00 PM to also raise money for Frightlight guitarist Rick White's nephew Logan, so if you want full details on that, click here! Keep up to date further on this benefit show at the Facebook event page and right here at the SMS!

While we're on the subject of Frightlight, here's a couple more updates. Remember their concert on July 10th at Coch's Corner? Well, Frightlight are now headlining it, as the previously planned openers, Toronto's The von Drats, had to pull out. That sucks, I wonder what happened? Tiny Trebuchet were originally announced as replacement openers, but they're out now too, so Frightlight need openers! Message the band at their Facebook group if you're interested in playing! It'll still be a great concert, and it now has a poster which you can check out on your right! Awesome work! Finally for Frightlight news, the band now have a Reverbnation page! It has band information, videos, their lineup (with stage names), appropriate links, and probably most exciting, songs! Four recordings from jam sessions are posted on the page, including the songs "Fright Night", "C.H.U.D.", "They All Float", and "Scream"! Quality's not fantastic, but it's great to hear more from Frightlight! Check them all out at this location, especially if you like Fitswitch, The Misfits, and horror punk!

Thirdly today are a bunch of updates from Sault Michigan's own Bad Side, who recently ended a months-long hiatus to return to the stage for a pair of shows in the Milwaukee area! On Monday, the band let fans know on their Facebook page that their performance at this year's Milwaukee SummerFest was filmed by a cable network named TheCoolTV, and will apparently air on said channel! As best as I can tell, it's not available in the Sault area yet, but keep it in mind! And most excitingly of all, their ENTIRE PERFORMANCE is now available to listen to on a music website called SoundCloud! 10 songs over 45 minutes, it's great quality audio too, and the band sound as good as ever! Haven't found video or anything else from SummerFest or the warm-up show, but having the whole concert in audio form works, and there's a couple other recordings there too! Click here to check it all out, and fingers crossed that they come back home for a show down the road! Also to quickly note, head to the band's official website for info on how to get one of the last remaining copies of their original tour shirts!

And finally for today, we have another band hoping to play in Sault Ontario! At Fall's End, a hardcore band from Belleville, will be on the road for shows on the August 27th weekend, and are open to play in Sault Ste. Marie that weekend! Guitarist Matt Demarell posted on our Facebook page asking for help to get a booking here, and they will play dirt cheap apparently! If you're interested in booking or helping book At Fall's End for a concert on the last weekend of August, contact Matt at this location or the band through their MySpace page! They sound pretty good, it's kind of like punk influenced metalcore, though their current stuff isn't completely representative of their sound, as Matt tells us that songs with their new singer will be posted on Saturday. Still, check them out, and if you like what you hear, help them get a local booking!

That's all for today, though it's a start to clearing out the rest of my backlogged news! At least special features are past us, for a couple days at least. Here's what to expect coming up: Tomorrow's post will have weekend concert previews and more news stories, and if I have to post a second time tomorrow, I will! At this rate, there will be a Friday news update too, and Saturday will be my second GarageBand Profile in this mini-series, all about Lee Maines' solo projects! My Phatstick concert review (with more news) will be Saturday or Sunday, depending on what day I go to see them. And finally, the SMS 3rd Anniversary is in only FOUR DAYS, so don't forget about that either! Until then, it's business as usual, just busier. Stay tuned for lots more!

Hey guys, it's time for the first installment of our GarageBand Profile Mini-Series, where we post the GarageBand profiles and songs of the six local metal/hard rock bands on the site, which as we know, is shutting down on July 15th. This is today's first installment, and the mini-series will continue for the next 15 days with five more profiles to go at 3 day intervals. Remember, aside from spelling/grammar edits, link/video updates, award condension, and some additional useful artist info and analysis, this is a closely transferred copy of the original GarageBand profile, with everything relevant still intact. Enjoy today's first GarageBand profile! (UPDATED: December 26th, 1:53 PM)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recognition

Genre: Hardcore MetalHometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada

Bio: N/A (There was no posted Recognition biography)

Members: N.J. (Composer; I can't identify the full name of "N.J.", but their online handle on their user page was "nenadsrbija", if that counts for anything)

Artist URL:None (This was Recognition's only internet page. If the band or it's creator have other pages, they're likely other under names)

SMS Analysis:Recognition never appeared to take off beyond an instrumental solo project in the summer of 2006, which is a shame, because "N.J" (whoever he is) has some good guitar skills! The songs above show it, he has a taste for good riffs and the rest of the instrumentation is solid in backing roles. Nice use of sound effects on songs like "War Zone" and "Rev It Up" too, they were great to set the tone of the material! My big complaint, and it is big, is that the songs are repetitive. They feel like endless riffs, and a few share extremely similar structures, like "War Zone" & "Sacrifice". From what I've heard, "N.J." would have been a great rhythm guitarist in a band back then, and hopefully his lead skills and originality have gotten better since, cause "N.J." has real promise! Of course, if you can tell me more about Recognition and the man behind it, let me know by e-mail at robertfigures@hotmail.com!

Videos: Recognition had no videos at all, and because there's no other official band pages, I have uploaded all 10 Recognition songs to The Sault Metal Scene's YouTube channel! Because I didn't think they were substantial enough to warrant individual videos, I have combined all 10 songs into three YouTube videos, and you can check out the entire Recognition catalog below!

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Hope you guys enjoyed our first installment of our GarageBand Profile Mini-Series! It returns on Saturday as we'll take a look at the solo projects of Gates of Winter frontman Lee Maines, who has made his presence felt on a couple of GarageBand solo pages. Remember, the series continues for the next two weeks through July 15th, so stay tuned for more archives of GarageBand profiles of local metal acts! Stay tuned to the SMS tonight for more news and updates!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Man, oh man is this week busy at The Sault Metal Scene! I was planning for mid-week to just be special feature posts, but my news desk is more full than it's been in a couple of months, so I basically HAVE to get a news post in tonight, lest I fall behind on some big stories. So today, I have some major updates from Turner Up, but first, here's some huge long-awaited lineup news for TWO upcoming music festivals! (Check out my newest out-of-town band profiles in the post below!)

Firstly, the lineup for this year's Rotaryfest Second Stage (sponsored by Tenaris Algoma Tubes) has been announced... well most of it, I'll explain in a second. Just like last year, the Second Stage will take place over two nights, this year over July 16th and 17th, and will be held outdoors at Square One of Queen Street East! After a year's absence, metal will return to the Second Stage, as Garden of Bedlam will headline on July 17th at 10:00 PM! This will be the band's first concert following the recording sessions for their new studio album, so this will definitely be a must see concert! As of today, they are the only confirmed metal band, but there are still four open slots for to be announced bands that, oddly enough, will be announced one at a time over the next couple of days. I don't know of who they could be, but keep that in mind! Admission for both nights is FREE and it's definitely ALL AGES!

Now as for the rest of the currently announced Second Stage lineup, here's who to expect: On Friday, July 16th, local prog rockers The Craig West Band (featuring Gates of Winter's Brian Holmes on bass) will open the Second Stage at 5:00 PM, followed by Toronto classical/punk trio RedD Monkey (featuring three Saultites, among them, former Gates drummer Kevin Overton) at 6:00 PM. The Great Bloomers, a roots music band from Toronto, will hit the stage at 7:00 PM, after which local indie band Kalle Mattson (featuring another former Gates of Winter member, drummer Jimmie Chiverelli) will play at 8:00 PM. The headliners for night one will be announced on Friday, they'll begin at 9:00 PM. Night two on Saturday, July 17th will begin at 1:00 PM with local blues rockers Blues Harvest (featuring former Garage Inc. frontman Jake Rendell), followed by a pair of local solo musicians, Catharine Taddo & Greg McLaughlin, at 2:00 and 3:00 PM respectively. Local roots band Porter will be on stage at 4:00 PM that day, followed by another mystery band at 5:00 PM that will be announced on Saturday. At 6:00 PM, local bluegrass quintet The Wild Turkeys will play a set, after which we'll get another mystery band at 7:00 PM who'll be announced TOMORROW. Local funk/blues rockers Big Wheel and the Spokes will be playing that night at 8:00 PM, followed by the last of the mystery bands at 9:00 PM (to be announced on Monday), with Garden of Bedlam capping off the Second Stage at 10:00 PM!

I'll update you guys to the additions as they come in, especially if there's a metal band! Also stay tuned for updates on the First Stage, which curiously has no news yet. Big thanks to Glen Thomas at The Barking Eye for letting me know about the lineup, and for further confirmation, visit the official Second Stage event page!

Speaking of festivals, we've been waiting patiently for news on the opening bands at the Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Summer Festival, and now we can confirm all of the opening bands for the festival, and yes, there are some local metal bands! All of the new info comes from the official Kewadin festival blog. Nixxon Dixxon will, as I personally hoped, be playing at the festival, which is awesome news! According to their MySpace page, they will fittingly be backing up Bret Michaels and Vince Neil on July 22nd! Remember, they were the short-notice openers for Bret at his last Kewadin concert in March 2008! Also confirmed, in their long-awaited return to the local stage: Clownsack! I don't think they've played a local show since last year's set at the King of the Cage MMA event! Great to finally see them back, maybe we'll hear stuff from their upcoming second album during their set? Time will tell! Also confirmed are a youth group named "Rock Camp". I believe this is a band from Shift guitarist Joey Beairl's summer rock camp through The Guitar Studio, but I can't 100% verify that. If I'm right on my assumption, this will feature young local rock musicians assembling in a new local rock band for an actual concert. Bands like 7/47, Unleashed, and Intrepid have formed from these summer rock camps, so this very well could be a metal group, but we'll have to see!

Also newly confirmed for the festival: Local country singer Paul Perry, and a local band named Elipzis. I haven't found anything to confirm this band's identity or genre, can you help? One more out of town band has been confirmed too, a classic rock band from Lansing named Showdown, who are actually the first band I've come across to confirm they're opening for Meat Loaf on July 24th! These bands join the previously confirmed support bands Finding Clyde, StilrizE, Dannison, and locals Electric Motor Fish on the lineup! Now, which days are they all playing? Some are confirmed, some are not, but here's what I know: Finding Clyde, StilrizE, Dannison, and Electric Motor Fish all confirmed that they would be backing up Three Doors Down on July 23rd on their respective MySpace pages, that we know, so there's likely no new bands to be confirmed for that day. With Nixxon Dixxon confirmed for the 22nd and Showdown on the 24th, that leaves four extra bands for those two days. My assumption would be that the bands will be matched by genre of the headliners, so I'm thinking that Clownsack and the "Rock Camp" group will be on the 22nd, and Elipzis and Paul Perry will be on the 24th. Could be wrong though. I'll keep you guys posted, stay tuned to the Kewadin Festival's official blog for lineup/event news and how to get tickets, and when the schedule is completely finalized, I'll let you guys know!

And finally, there has been a big apparent lineup change in a local hard rock band. Turner Up have parted ways with frontman Todd Killam. This can be confirmed from his absence from the band's lineup and photos on their brand new Facebook page (their old group was deleted.) What happened? Your guess is as good as mine, the band seemed happy and tight and all that, they even jammed a couple tunes with Garden of Bedlam members at their last show at The Canadian Nightclub! Nothing I've heard has implied band tension, so I'm thinking Todd left on his own, hopefully on good terms! He's not even mentioned by name on the new page, just as a "former member", which is odd. Sucks that he left, he's a nice guy and I know he's put a lot of work into Turner Up since their inception! So now, the band are looking to replace Todd with a new singer and apparently have gigs booked throughout the summer. We'll have to see what happens next with Turner Up, I'll definitely keep you all in the loop on that front! Also to note: The band's new Facebook page now lists their genre as "70's 80's Classic Rock." Yet with Todd singing, they played a lot of newer songs too. Change in singer AND musical focus too? Things to thinks about!

That's all for today, anything else would get lost in the shuffle of these big stories. I really SHOULD post more, but I don't want you guys to bypass anything or not notice a story that should be read. I am badly backed up for news, so tomorrow will be another double post day, starting with the debut of our new GarageBand Profile Mini-Series, as we take a look at a local metal project named Recognition. And then later on tomorrow night, I promise there will be a new news post with some more big stories. Stay tuned for all this, and more! Oh yeah, the SMS 3rd Anniversary is in FIVE DAYS!!!!!

As promised, it's now time for our sixth monthly installment of our Saultites in Out Of Town Bands profile series! This month, we look at two Ontario hard rock bands with local connections, one from Northern Ontario, one from Southern Ontario, both of which are well worth discussing! Let's begin this month's profiles, and of course, if there's something incorrect, missing, or lacking info/details, please tell me!(UPDATED: November 25h, 2014)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Disciples of Rock (Blind River, Ontario)

Local Info: Two Saultites would find their way into The Disciples of Rock as later additions to the band, starting with James White in July 2006, replacing Terry Lantaine on bass. Later, Aaron LeBlanc joined as the lead guitarist, making the band a five-piece. Both Aaron and James were born here, but both moved to Blind River in their youth. Since the band's apparent hiatus, James moved back to Sault Ste. Marie, and now plays bass in local punk band Redundant and funk rockers The Elements, along with tenures with bands like Caveman Morrison, Browbeat, The Northern Mudsliders, Haggith, The Quims, and as a guest with Frightlight since re-entering the local scene, plus work as a producer and concert soundman with his company White Wreckords. As best as I can tell, Aaron still lives in Blind River, though I could be wrong. I haven't heard if Aaron's been in a band since The Disciples of Rock went on hiatus, but it'd be nice to see him gigging again, as he has real talent!

Band Bio:The Disciples of Rock were founded in June 2006, with their classic lineup being completed not long after their formation. Only frontman Yves Rock and rhythm guitarist Preston St. Jules remained in the band from the start. Consisting of 5 musicians of widely varying ages and styles, The Disciples of Rock quickly gained a solid reputation in the Blind River/Elliot Lake area, and released their first and only CD, "Nasty Habits", in May of 2007, which was recorded at Blind River's EFR Studios. Playing sets of their originals and select covers, The Disciples of Rock gave Blind River a good dose of hard rock before their 2008 hiatus, but they did reunite for occasional one-off gigs through July of 2009. I don't believe the band ever played in Sault Ste. Marie, but I bet their concerts were must see events no matter where they were!

I've always liked The Disciples of Rock, I remember hoping they'd play locally when I first heard of them, but no such luck. Good thing they have tons of pages online, cause they've got some solid stuff to check out! There's a definite classic rock influence in a lot of their songs, but at the same time, they know how to keep things heavy, and there's an equal mix of metal-ish stuff and bluesy classic tunes on their album! Yves Rock has a nice melodic rock voice that has a lot of soul and melody to it that works nicely, and I'm impressed with the band as a whole! Four of the members were between the ages of 16 and 22 when they released "Nasty Habits", and they were really playing beyond their respective years! I'm particularly impressed with Aaron LeBlanc's guitar work, I'd love to see him back in a band, cause he's got some awesome guitar skills! They're not the absolute heaviest band in Northern Ontario, but they have enough heaviness to get by, with a nice classic rock twist! Here's hoping they reunite down the road once again!

While there are places online to buy "Nasty Habits" in it's entirety (Amazon has it for $9.99), the band's various internet pages have the full album for free to stream too! If you wanna support the band (never a bad idea), buy it today, but feel free to listen to the whole thing whenever you want on one of their pages! I recommend their CBC Radio 3 page for audio quality, but it's up to you! And yes, they have plenty of videos, click here to visit their YouTube channel, which features live performance clips of originals and covers, as well as some songs straight from the album! I'm embedding their Halloween 2006 performance of "Hey DJ" here, check it out below, see what you think, or see more from the band at the above links!

Local Info:Drummer Thom Edwards was born right here in Sault Ontario, but was raised in Mattawa. Sure, it's not the strongest local connection, but Thom was a Saultite, that can't be denied! His dad being a rock drummer, Thom picked up on drumming early, at the age of 11. This led to him joining some high school bands and being a roadie for his dad's bands. Thom moved to London to further his music career when he was 20, and recorded an EP with London hard rockers The Bumps in 2006 before their breakup. The next summer, Thom joined Violet Fuse, though he's most recently been seen in the pirate rock collective The Gypsy Ghosts.

Band Bio:Violet Fuse were formed in late 2006 by college classmates Tim Vujicic and Scott Vincent on vocals and guitar respectively, along with an unidentified bassist and drummer who have since left the band. Thom Edwards and bassist Kyle Mayer joined in June 2007, playing their first concert two months later. Tim left the band in April 2008 to pursue other genres, which led to Kyle Mayer taking over on vocals as well as bass in time for their return shows in August 2009. Violet Fuse have since became a fixture of the London music scene, playing frequently at area bars, and kept busy recording their self titled debut album, which was launched at a CD release party in London in August 2010, and the album's now on iTunes! Violet Fuse have never played in Sault Ste. Marie, but they were briefly advertised for Hempfest's local return in 2011 before dropping out. Activity persisted on a steady basis through December 2012, though public updates didn't follow, and the band quietly fell inactive the following year.

Violet Fuse describe their sound as "classic rock inspired, with a modern rock sound", and I can see where they get that idea! They're by no means the heaviest band in the world, but they rock pretty hard, and they're right about having classic rock inspiration! Hard to explain, but they have the kind of sound that would fit well with fans of new and old hard rock! Really nice melodies combined with some hard riffs and good singing! Scott Vincent's a good rock guitarist, I like his riffing and his rhythm, and Kyle Mayer's a great bassist! Good singer too, but to me, his bass shines through more, but on songs like "Castle Walls", he's particularly great vocally! Thom Edwards holds down the drums effectively, no complaints there! For some nice melodic hard rock that music lovers new and old can get into, check out Violet Fuse!

The above links have lots of music from Violet Fuse, notably their self-titled debut album and a live EP, which you can purchase at this location! Material is also available on Reverbnation, Soundcloud, and on their official website, which sound pretty good! Check them out, but if you want lots of Violet Fuse material, head to their YouTube channel, where the band has uploaded 14 concert videos featuring both originals and covers! Here's one of their better originals, "Be Confident", from a May 2011 show in London!

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Hope you guys enjoyed this month's profiles! Next month, I have decided on two metal bands to profile that have/had a Saultite in their lineup! I think you'll like my choices! They are Thrawsunblat, the Fredericton, New Brunswick black metal project featuring the Sault's own David Gold on drums (alongside current Woods of Ypres guitarist Joel Violette), and Jar., the Vancouver metal band that originally featured Wishbone bassist Chris Smith! Look out for that late next month! Stay tuned later tonight for another packed news post (I've been swamped with news lately) and tomorrow evening marks the kick-off of our GarageBand Profile Mini-Series! Stay tuned!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Good afternoon, metalheads! Big post today, including TWO LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, a concert preview for Wednesday, another band looking to play in Sault Ontario, a cool local concert photo discovery, and some more assorted stories! Let's begin, and remember, news I don't get to today will likely be posted on Thursday, due to the new profiles I'm posting over the next couple of days, unless there's something really huge to anchor a news post in between.

Three metal bands who've been hoping to play here for months now have now succeeded in their search, and will be playing TOGETHER!! I first told you guys about this possible show two weeks ago, and now it's confirmed: Toronto classic metal band Skull Fist, Toronto progressive instrumental metal trio The Isosceles Project, and North Bay extreme metallers Thekillingfield are coming to The Canadian Nightclub on August 11th! This has been confirmed in a new Facebook event page to promote the concert, with venue information also confirmed there by Tiffany Stocco, who helped to set up this booking. Note that Thekillingfield's MySpace page still lists a "TBA" date for Barrie on August 11th, but the Facebook event page seems to shoot that down. A cover charge is not known, but a guess of between $3 and $5 is listed. Because this is The Canadian, I can see the show starting at around 10:00 PM, and it's definitely 19+. This is gonna be an awesome concert, with a diverse lineup of bands that will be sure to impress! I hope to be at this concert, and you guys should go too! I'll keep you all posted with updates!

Meanwhile, local horror punk/metal quartet Frightlight will hit the stage on July 17th for their first ever concert away from Coch's Corner! On July 17th, Frightlight will headline a special benefit concert at Foggy Notions to raise money for guitarist Rick White's 2 year old nephew Logan, who has meningitis that has severely affected his hearing. Money raised would go toward covering tests and surgery to be done in Toronto. Locals The Fury have been confirmed as openers, with another band to be announced. Unlike most Foggys shows, this will be an ALL AGES show from 5:00-9:00 PM! The cover charge will be $5 at the door, with of course, all proceeds going to Logan. This is a great idea to raise money, and the fact that they've made it all ages is a smart move to raise interest! I'll keep you posted with updates as they come in, and thanks to Rick for additional concert info! Confirm your attendance at the Facebook event page!

Thirdly today is, because there's a midweek concert, a local concert preview! And AC/DC fans, get yourselves ready, as Who Made Who, The Ultimate Tribute To AC/DC are coming back to Sault Ontario on WEDNESDAY! Just a month after fellow AC/DC tribute Hells Bells rocked The Canadian Nightclub, Who Made Who will bring their own brand of high voltage rock n' roll to The Canadian on Wednesday, in their first local show since February at Nite-Life Dance Club! If you need even more reason to go beyond hearin authentic AC/DC classics, then hear this: There will be a giveaway for KISS TICKETS! No details on what that entails, but if you want free tickets for one of the biggest shows of the year, heading to The Canadian doesn't sound like a bad idea! Doors open at 10:00 PM, admission is $5 at the door, and you must be 19 to get in. Who Made Who impressed me last year at The Canadian, and they'll be sure to deliveryour favourite AC/DC hits faithfully! They'll rock, trust me! If you can't make it on Wednesday, no worries, cause Who Made Who will be back on July 24th at The Rockstar Bar! For a preview for Wednesday's concert, here's Who Made Who playing "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)" from a show in Thunder Bay!

Finally, here's another band hoping to play here in the next few months! I got an e-mail the other day from Joel Genier, a guitarist in The Prosthetic Hearts, a death metal band from Sudbury. They wanna do some touring this summer and would love to play in Sault Ontario at some point, whether that means a new booking or joining an existing lineup! Joel was even inquiring about getting on the lineup of the Breaking The Fourth Wall show here on July 30th on our Facebook page, so you can see that these guys really wanna play in the Soo! If you're interested in booking The Prosthetic Hearts for a show here, or adding them to an existing scheduled concert, e-mail the band at prosthetichearts666@hotmail.com! The Prosthetic Hearts are pretty good, they're nice and heavy, and mix death metal and hardcore pretty well for an effective mosh-worthy mix, with a sense of humour to boot! It'd be great to have them here, check them out at this location, and if you can help bring them here, e-mail them!

That's all for today, but here's a schedule for you guys on what's coming up on the SMS! Tomorrow, I will profile The Disciples of Rock and Violet Fuse in my newest Saultites in Out Of Town Bands Profile! Then on Wednesday, it's time for our new GarageBand Profile Mini-Series to begin, as we take a look at Sault Ontario's Recognition in advance of GarageBand's closure! Thursday will have weekend concert previews and the latest updates on two local music festivals, and if need be, I'll have a news post Tuesday or Wednesday, albeit well spaced from our special profile features. Stay tuned for all this, and more!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Lots of assorted news for today, including fall out from a few locally-relevant concerts, a tiny smidgen of a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, and a new SMS profile mini-series announcement that you guys should read. But first, here's some stuff from a recent major concert!

The first videos have popped up online from Saturday's Tesla concert at Kewadin Casino! Duane Roy, author of "Castle Stories" and a frequent sight at major local hard rock concerts, has uploaded five videos from the concert onto his YouTube channel, and I gotta say, I like the quality! He got very close to the band and got some good looking and sounding video footage! Before I show the videos he got, I have to mention the really nice photos he took too, now available on his Flickr account! He got tons of photos of both Tesla and openers Fifth Way, including a pair of pics of Tesla band members reading "Castle Stories" (including Jeff Keith and Frank Hammond on your right.) Now that's cool! Click here for dozens of photos from the show, the first 7 pages are almost entirely Tesla-concert related, all of great quality! Now, back to the videos, 5 in total! No full songs, but Duane shot clips of Tesla performing "The Way It Is", "Hang Tough", "Cumin' Atcha Live", "Love Song", and "Signs", which I'm embedding here because it's both their best known song and the longest of the videos! Nothing from Fifth Way's set, but these Tesla videos work nicely! Check them all out at the above links, and "Signs" right here! Great stuff, and if more stuff from the Tesla show pops up, I'll have it here!

Next up, we have brand new videos from Woods of Ypres' current North American tour to show you guys from some new YouTube uploads! Woods drummer Evan Madden has uploaded two brand new concert videos from their shows in Calgary and Edmonton onto his YouTube channel, both of which are filmed from the "drum cam angle", so Evan's the main focus of each clip! We've seen similar videos on his channel last year from their 2009 Canadian tour dates. Oddly, the new clips are of the same song performed on different nights, "The Sun Was In My Eyes (Part I)", which is a really good song, but kinda disappointing to get the same song twice over. Still, both are great quality and worth checking out! Click here for the Calgary performance, which is shorter and the audio's a bit more muffled, but the footage is clearer! Embedded below is the Edmonton performance, which has better audio and is longer, and though it's definitely darker, we get a better angle of the band and crowd. Check it out!

Thirdly today is a tiny bit of a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, though I'm not plugging it first because I already did...kinda. What do I mean? Well, remember when I alerted you guys to Phatstick's return to Foggy Notions on Saturday? Yeah, it turns out they're playing on Friday too! A Foggy Notions Facebook status update and the discovery of an event page for a Friday concert confirmed this. It's great to see them playing two shows this weekend, this more than makes up for the May show that got cancelled! Nothing appears drastically different for the Friday show compared to the Saturday one, both have a 10:00 PM start time, both are 19+, and I imagine the cover for both (likely around $3) will be the same. So if you wanna see Phatstick this weekend and had a conflict on Saturday, now you have an alternative! I'm still debating which day I'll be there for, but I guarantee I'll be at Foggy's for one of this weekend's Phatstick shows! After years of waiting to be old enough to see them, and then waiting for them to come back at all, now's my chance! I'll keep you all posted!

And finally, in case you haven't heard, you guys should know about this because a few local metal bands use this site. Popular independent music site GarageBand.com is shutting it's doors on July 15th. The people behind GarageBand.com are switching their entire focus to their other music site, iLike, as well as to work better with MySpace, which I would say is the most popular independent music portal on the Internet. I mention this here because there are a handful of local metal bands who have pages on GarageBand, most notably Gates of Winter, though there are other local metal acts who have used GarageBand to get their music out to the world, and on July 15th, their pages will vanish from the internet unless they forward their accounts to iLike, which given most of their current statuses, doesn't seem likely. GarageBand was a great site for music promotion, and unlike many sites, the fact that you could vote on and review bands and songs was a feature that was really handy, so this is very disappointing.

Well, you know what? I'm not going to sit back and let these local metal band pages just go up in flames, cause we're going to lose a lot of stuff that way. Making note of that, I'd like to announce that starting on Wednesday, The Sault Metal Scene will run a mini-series of GarageBand profiles, focusing on the six local metal/hard rock acts with a GarageBand profile that has enough info or material to warrant SMS attention. Aside from updated links & grammar corrections, I will make these profiles as close to the the original GarageBand profiles as possible, though I may add some extra info you guys might like in brackets. This includes each and every posted song from the six bands, with links, some of which will be from brand new YouTube uploads I'm making to archive these songs which would be otherwise lost. The only things I'm not copying over are lyrics from one band for space reasons (the singer's clear anyway) and the complete rankings/awards of two bands, because that'd be a lot of info that I don't think would be paid much attention to. I'll just cover the absolute top awards for each to get across how big they were on GarageBand!

The profiles start on WEDNESDAY with the inactive local metal band named Recognition, and will continue every three days through July 15th (GarageBand's last day.) I also wanna recommend that you guys download and copy the songs and bands from GarageBand that you like and want to save while you can. There's tons of great non-metal bands from here on the site, and many more from around the world that don't deserve to have their work dumped like this. Click here to visit GarageBand today and check this stuff out and save what you like before it's too late!

That's all for today, stay tuned for more news likely tomorrow! I have some more news stories laying around that I should get to, including a band looking to play here, some Rock 101 updates, and lots more assorted stories. Tuesday WILL be my next profiles of out of town bands with local members, I am 100% certain it will be on Tuesday, and my first GarageBand profile in this mini-series WILL be on Wednesday, followed by weekend concert previews and more news on Thursday. Stay tuned for all that, this is going to be a very busy stretch on the SMS, hope you're along for the ride!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Good afternoon, everyone! Hope the weekend's going well for you guys so far! Today is basically a catch-up day, to get some bigger stories off of my newsdesk and into your consciousness! I have Browbeat updates, a new Woods of Ypres video, and a local hard rock musician discovery, but first, here's more glimpses at a new local band!

Silver Dream frontman Matthew Silver has uploaded five new videos to his YouTube channel, all of which are solo acoustic performances of Silver Dream original songs! Nice to finally hear some more of their stuff, even if it's just solo at the moment. These may not sound all that heavy, but keep in mind that Matt likely altered the arrangements to fit better for a solo acoustic performance. If you've heard their first released studio song, "My Heart Stops", you'll get a taste of what the band will sound like compared to Matt alone. That being said, the new songs are all very well sung, played, and composed at this state! They all have a clear emotion and feeling to them, and Matthew's voice comes through nicely on each! The uploads are for the songs "Evangeline", "Sunshine", "Every Minute", "Baby I Love", and the one I'm embedding here, for the song "Talk To Me"! All have a similar sound given the nature of the performance clips, but "Talk To Me" is the longest, so it makes sense to show this one off! Check it out below, and if I hear more from Silver Dream, especially the full band, you'll hear it here!

(Also, in the absence of a band website, I've linked Matt's YouTube channel as the band's site on the SMS band links on your left until an actual page pops up. Check it out!)

Next up, a new video from Woods of Ypres' current North American tour has been posted online on frontman David Gold's YouTube channel! I word it like that because it's a 9:45 long tour vlog! It's an assemblage of various happenings over the past week on their tour, including the destroyed windshield mishap (and their protective mid-drive measures because of it), lots of concert clips from the shows they've played so far, and many other assorted clips from the tour! Among them: How they had supper in Winnipeg, encounters with a prairie dog and a snake, and much more footage from the sights and sounds of a Western Canada road trip, with lots of doom/black metal footage to go around! Hopefully the band releases some full song performances too, cause I know we'd love to hear more from the new album, concerts, and lineup! Check out the vlog for yourself below, pretty interesting stuff!

Thirdly today are some more updates from Sault Ontario hard rockers Browbeat! First off, it appears that the band are looking for a new bassist! It looks like frontman Dutch Vanderploeg will be remaining on guitar after all, so the band now needs a bassist again! I actually found out about this through Matthew Silver from Silver Dream, who uploaded this photo/classified ad to hype the search! If you're interested in joining a local hard rock band and are willing to learn original material, contact Dutch at dutch68@live.ca A.S.A.P.! Also to note: Browbeat have uploaded a new song onto their Reverbnation page, entitled "Moving On"! Sounds good to me, it's heavy and has nice pacing, but keeps their trandemark melody too! Click the above links to check it out, I'll keep you posted on more Browbeat news!

Now here's an interesting discovery I made the other day. Sometimes, when I search for local band updates and pages on MySpace, I'll come across a musician's solo page that has metal/hard rock solo material, or even rarer, stuff from their old bands. This happened to me the other day, when I found the MySpace page for Sault Ontario rock bassist Dan Beaupre. I immediately recognized him from his work in 100 Gran, who weren't a bad rock band, though I wouldn't say they were SMS material. It was reading his bio and listening to his songs that made me go "OK, this belongs on the SMS." It says that one of the bands he played for backed up Dio (how cool is that?), and on the bands he was listed as being a member of, I spotted a few familiar names, like Carbon Black, Metal Militia, and Hollow. Now who else was in those bands....oh, that's right, Tym Morrison! Sure enough, after some extra fact checking, I can verify that Dan and Tym were bandmates! That being said, the Carbon Black and Hollow songs that he uploaded don't feature Tym, they have guitarists Terry Eaton and Adam King, so they must have been recorded before Tym joined or after he left.

Did you catch that? There's Carbon Black and Hollow original material on Dan's MySpace page! I find the two Carbon Black songs uploaded ("Misconception" and "Angry") are catchier and heavier than the Hollow songs ("Flesh & Bones" and "Abducted"), especially "Angry", I'm really digging it's groove! These songs sound really good, I wonder if they were released on a CD or cassette at any point? Because if there's anything floating around on a released album, I'd love to review it here! Dan's got some real bass skill, it shows on these songs, and he's kept it up since in other bands like Tom Foolery, 100 Gran, and The AUC Jazz Ensemble! Dan's apparently working on a new band project as of May 30th, we'll have to see how that sounds! Check out more of Dan's work and back catalog at his MySpace page, see what you think!

Also to note: When checking around for other bands related to Carbon Black/Hollow members, I found a band called Buster Cherry from St. Thomas, Ontario, featuring former Carbon Black/Hollow guitarist Terry Eaton and drummer Vince Milosevich. They are metal, and they would absolutely fit in our out of town bands with local members profile series! Not sure when I can fit them in, but keep Buster Cherry in mind!

That's all for today, stay tuned for more news in the next few days! I should have at least one news post before Wednesday, when I plan to profile The Disciples Of Rock and Violet Fuse in our next profiles of out of town bands with local members! Stay tuned for that, and more!

Friday, June 25, 2010

As promised, it's time for some more local metal news and updates, and kicking things off are LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!! And since yesterday, I found another, so there's two new concerts to tell you guys about! Here's what you need to know!

Who Made Who, The Ultimate Tribute To AC/DC are coming to Sault Ontario... again! Just one month after their show at The Canadian Nightclub next week, the popular AC/DC tribute band will be back in town for a concert at The Rockstar Bar on July 24th! That will be Who Made Who's third local concert in a six month span, how about that? There's a twist to this one though, as there will be local openers! Wishbone, the local rock band featuring former Browbeat drummer Chris Smith on bass, will kick off this concert! Nice seeing them back booking shows, even if they're not metal, I'm a fan! The show starts at 9:00 PM on July 24th, it is 19+, tickets are $6 and can be bought at The Rad Zone and at The Algonquin Hotel's front desk downstairs from The Rockstar Bar! If you show up at the door with no ticket, it will cost $9 to get in. This should be a fun concert, and judging by the fact that there's ticket sales and an opener, it looks like there's a lot being put into this concert! Who Made Who are a great AC/DC tribute, click here to check out more, and make sure to visit the Facebook event page! If I hear more on this concert, I'll let you guys know!

So what's the second concert? Well, if you like tribute bands, you'll love this! Crued: The World's #1 Motley Crue Tribute Band are coming back to Sault Ontario this fall! The popular Toronto-based tribute band will return to The Canadian Nightclub on September 24th for their first show here since May 1st! A start time of 10:00 PM is listed on the Facebook event page, expect a cover charge of $5 or less, and you must be 19 to get in. I had to miss Crued in May due to a trip out of town, maybe I can make it to this one! They look and sound the part as much as possible, and they play tons of Motley Crue classics past and present! If you're a Crue fan, you're bound to have a good time! Check out more from Crued at their official MySpace page!

The Canadian's sure been ramping up on the tribute band bookings, haven't they? Just as an aside, you know what tribute band I personally want to see back at The Canadian? Sandman: A Musical Salute To Metallica. They had a great Metallica sound, some of the members were in Helix, and they played my first ever 19+ bar show in June 2008! Here's hoping they're back some day!

Next up, here are the latest updates on the Kiss concert on August 10th at The Essar Center! Sorry skeptics, I told you they would come here! First off, did you remember to get your ticket today at the box office? A limited number were released for sale today at the box office and online at this location! I imagine they went fast, but try for a ticket A.S.A.P. just in case! Now as you can see on your right, an official poster for this concert has been released, click on it for a larger version or click here for an interactive huge version. Notice who's listed as the special guests? Garden of Bedlam, of course! Cool to see them on a poster of this calibre, just wait until we see them opening this concert! Also of note: $1 from each ticket sold will go to The Wounded Warriors Fund to benefit wounded war veterans, which is an awesome gesture! No word though if it's for all tickets or just the ones since the new date was announced. And as best as I can tell, the live CD recording of the concert that we would have gotten from the cancelled December 15th Kiss show will NOT take place at this one, but if I'm wrong, I'll let you know! Remember, tickets are $99.50, tickets from the cancelled date will be honoured, and you can get refunds for those tickets at the point of purchase if you want.

While we're on the subject of Kiss, here's some more updates from local news sources on the show! SooNews.ca reported the news of the new date for the concert on Monday, click here to read the article! The Sault Star posted a similar article three days ago, click here to read it too! None of the articles tells us anything new or groundbreaking, but really, after over a year of Kiss discussion in the local media, can you blame them? Remember, Kiss and Garden of Bedlam at The Essar Center on August 10th, I will see you all there!

And finally for today, lots of news from Glen Thomas' excellent news site The Barking Eye! His newest article is his first "Attack of the Garage Bands" segment, which is particularly interesting to us at the SMS because it's all about Sykotyk Rampage! It features a lengthy write-up on Sykotyk Rampage contributed by guitarist Dirk Becker, including how exactly the band writes and records their unique brand of hard rock! Interesting to see their own take on the songwriting and recording process, I guarantee no other band does it the same way! Dirk also contributed some extra band news, including confirmation of bassist Brian Cattapan's departure (he moved to Sudbury, but he will be featured on the band's upcoming albums), and confirmation of the band's 24th album, which will be a double album coming out in September, entitled "Genius Mushrooms with Thoughts of Intellect"! Can't wait to hear that! Check out the entire Sykotyk Rampage piece at this location, maybe you'll learn a few things about how to craft your own brand of blue Chinese metal crash punk! Also stay tuned for the release of "Bella Disgusta" this summer!

Also new on The Barking Eye, a short article where Glen promotes Reverbnation, the popular music site that many local bands are finally using actively, a plug for the Kiss show on August 10th (with some skepticism), and an article featuring some old videos featuring local bands and Saultites! Two have a metal connection, including one featuring Saultite Keith Danby (a veteran of some local hard rock bands way back), and much to my surprise, the music video for "Puzzled" by Human Disorder (featuring Saultites Jason Taillefer & Joe LaVergne from Phatstick), which I uploaded to YouTube last month! Check out the new articles at this location, and for more Barking Eye updates, join the new Facebook group for it by clicking here!

I'll leave you guys today with a picture I scanned from Sault This Week on Wednesday, of a local metalhead accepting his diploma at a recent mature students graduation ceremony at Roberta Bondar Pavilion! You can tell he's a metalhead with the devil horns and the Jack Daniels hat! Looking back, I should have flashed the horns for my Grade 12 grad photos! I found the photo amusing, especially being on the front page of the paper, so I thought "Well, why not scan it? Metal's spreading locally as it is!" Tomorrow, I should have a new post with updates from Browbeat, Silver Dream, a local guitarist from a few of Tym Morrison's old bands, and maybe some stuff on Kiss, Garden of Bedlam, and Woods of Ypres. You'll have to swing by the SMS tomorrow to find out what'll be up! Also, remember that Tesla are playing tomorrow night at Kewadin Casino, my newest out of town bands (with Saultite members) profiles will be up by Wednesday, and the SMS turns 3 years old in just 9 DAYS!!!!!!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

The weekend's drawing near, and lucky us, it's a packed weekend for local concerts! A bunch of local bands are hitting the stage, as well as a returning tribute band and a multi-platinum metal band making their own return to the Sault area! So here are your local concert previews for this weekend! (Stay tuned tomorrow for a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and more news and updates!)

We'll start with the locals today, and first, we have the return of Turner Up! The local hard rock cover band will return to live stage after a two week break for a show tomorrow night at The Canadian Nightclub! Yes, it's just tomorrow, you'll know why they're not playing on Saturday in a second. Turner Up will take the stage at 10:00 PM, I'd expect a cover charge of around $3, and you must be 19 to get in. I saw on Facebook that guitarist Len Ward claimed the cause of the earthquake we felt yesterday was a result of Turner Up and the anticipation for this show! Amusing, and for all we know, it could be true! If you want to hear some solid hard rock covers from one of the area's busiest bands, this could be the show for you! Don't be disaffected early though, their set gets heavier as the night goes on! Confirm your attendance at this location, check out more from Turner Up at their Facebook group, and for a preview, here's the band covering Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music" from a show in March!

Now over to Sault Michigan for the next four shows, as a pair of local bands hit local bars for some weekend sets! If you're heading to The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino this weekend, you'll be treated to a concert by local hard rockers Monkey's Uncle! Just like the rest of their post-name change concerts, it's not listed on their MySpace page, but Kewadin Casino's Entertainment page does list the shows, so there's your proof! Going by past Rapids Lounge concert history, there will be NO cover charge, and the show starts at 9:00 PM tomorrow night and Saturday night. You must be 21 to get in. Always an entertaining live band, if hard to find concerts for, Monkey's Uncle will deliver their hard rocking sound to fans at Kewadin this weekend! Check out more from the band at their MySpace page! Luckily, I can give you guys a video preview of Monkey's Uncle again, their videos are back on their page, so here's a clip of the band from their Jager days covering Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog"!

So, let's say you wanna see a different band at a Sault Michigan bar this weekend. Where do you go? Well, how about The Bird, cause that's where Nixxon Dixxon are playing! The rising young stars return to the stage there tomorrow night and Saturday night at 10:00 PM! Both shows are also 21+. It's been a bit since we last saw them, so why not make it out! Actually, if you miss them this weekend, they'll be back at The Bird next weekend too, so you're covered regardless! Nixxon Dixxon always impress, especially for a band of their age, cause they've got talent and experience beyond their years! Click here to check out more from Nixxon Dixxon, and for a preview, here's a video of the band covering the Alice In Chains classic "Would?"

A quick detour back to Sault Ontario for this concert, as The Canadian Nightclub's string of tribute bands continues on Saturday night! Black Dog: The Tribute To Led Zeppelin will play at The Canadian on Saturday, 14 months after they last played in Sault Ontario during a double weekend set at Coch's Corner! This would likely explain why Turner Up are only playing there on Friday. Black Dog are a good sounding Led Zeppelin tribute band, and should deliver a good performance on Saturday night! Check out their MySpace page for proof! The show starts at 10:00 PM, I'd expect a cover charge of $5 or less, and you also must be 19 to get in. Confirm your attendance at this location! I wonder what tribute band is next for The Canadian in coming weekends? If you want to rock out with Led Zeppelin classics, you'll wanna be here on Saturday! For a preview, here's a short clip of Black Dog playing "Stairway To Heaven"!

And finally this weekend is the big show, the one you've all been waiting for, as Tesla return to Kewadin Casino! Last seen here in February 2007, the Sacramento hard rock legends will make their long awaited return to The Dreammakers Theater on Saturday night! Of course, you will best recognize Tesla for such hits as "Signs", "Love Song", and "Mama's Fool", among many others, and they're bound to impress on Saturday! They've sold over 5 million albums, their most recent being 2008's "Forever More". Tesla even have the exact same lineup as from the 2007 concert, so you'll know exactly what you're in for! Joining them will be Detroit hard rockers Fifth Way, who'll open the show with their great sounding radio hard rock material! Of course, click the above links to check out both bands, they're definitely worth seeing! Now, how can you go to see Tesla on Saturday night? Well, if you don't already have your ticket, good news: the concert's not sold out yet!

Tickets are $38.50 and can be bought online at this location, at the Kewadin Casino box office, or by calling them at (906) 341-2951! Call them also to see if there's a meet and greet with Tesla at all before the show, cause many Dreammakers Theater shows have them, but they never get plugged online. Doors open at 6:00 PM, Fifth Way kicks things off at 7:00, and yes, it's all ages! Should be a great show, I know a number of you have tickets and can't wait to see Tesla again, I hope the show's a huge success! Tesla are a pretty good band that managed to transcend the "hair metal" tag and stay relevant with their blues influenced heavy metal, and they have a sound that Saultites are bound to eat up! For a video preview, here's Tesla's cover of ZZ Top's "Beer Drinkers & Hellraisers" from their February 2007 show at Kewadin Casino!

That's all for today, hopefully you guys hit some concerts this weekend! Remember, I'll have a news/updates post tomorrow with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so stay tuned for that! Plus, my newest profiles of out of town bands with local members will be up by Wednesday, and the SMS turns 3 one week from Sunday! Remember to voice your opinions on our Facebook page's discussion board as to what you want to see the SMS add, feature, or do for the occasion! Thanks everyone, stay tuned for lots more!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

So did you remember to check the SMS out at 10:00 PM last night for the all-concerts auto-post? I hope so, cause there was a lot there to get through, and even still, that's not all! Before I review Ultraviolence & The Big Four, we have another LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so here's what you need to know!

Just four months after they last came through here, Who Made Who, The Ultimate Tribute To AC/DC will be back in Sault Ontario in exactly ONE WEEK! Sorry for the short notice, I was only alerted to this show today. AC/DC fans sure have had a lot to cheer about locally in 2010, after seeing Who Made who at Nite-Life Dance Club in February and then seeing ANOTHER AC/DC tribute band, Hells Bells, at The Canadian Nightclub just last month! And just like at their May 2009 concert here, Who Made Who will be back at The Canadian themselves! What can you say, Sault Ste. Marie loves AC/DC and AC/DC tributes love coming here! The Ontario-based tribute band will bring their own authentic AC/DC sound and look once again next week that will be sure to impress, just as they did in their last shows here! The show will be on June 30th at 10:00 PM, there is a $5 cover charge, and you must be 19 to get in. You can never get too much AC/DC, so what excuse do you have to NOT go? Confirm your attendance at the Facebook event page, and check out more from Who Made Who by clicking here!

Now, onto reviews of what happened last night! Well, as you guys were probably aware, me and a few dozen other local metalheads found ourselves at Galaxy Cinema in Theater 1 for The Big Four: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax, live from Bulgaria! Well, it didn't turn out to be completely live, though that was probably to quicken things. Before the bands started, we didn't have to sit through trailers and ads, luckily, we actually got to see Lars Ulrich, Scott Ian, Dave Mustaine, and Kerry King talk about music and their influences and stuff, it has a nice casual interview feel! Anthrax opened to a huge raucous crowd, and I can see why, but I didn't expect them to be so into Anthrax and know all the songs! The band were fantastic and looked to be enjoying every minute of the show, especially singer Joey Belladonna, who went all out with his energy, including running around like a maniac with his Indian headdress during the song "Indians"! The highlight of their set was when they stopped mid-song to cover "Heaven and Hell" in tribute to Ronnie James Dio, that was just awesome! My biggest complaint about Anthrax was the vocals, probably cause I'm a huge fan of John Bush, and I never thought Joey's singing fit a thrash band, though I will say his voice has held out the best of the current Big Four frontmen!

Megadeth were next, and they sadly had to play about half their set during rain. I would have blamed Lars for trying to sabotage Dave and them, but that sounded cruel. Musically, they were on top of their game, with just an onslaught of thrash metal with no chit chat needed between songs! Again, like with Anthrax, my big complaint lied with vocals, it sounded like Dave Mustaine was straining his voice a lot of the time to hit higher and angrier notes. It's also awesome seeing David Ellefson back, and Chris Broderick's guitar work is just awesome, Dave did good to get him! Following them were Slayer, and I have to say, they still sound as good as ever! I was actually going into this thinking Tom Araya's singing would be the worst, cause last I heard, his singing was shot. Not last night, he sounded pretty close to their recent albums! Musically, I can't complain one bit, Kerry King's guitar mastery was obvious, Dave Lombardo laid waste to his drums (for my money, he's the best "Big Four" drummer), and the whole band played with an obvious intensity combined with joy to be playing!

Before Metallica played, we got a surprise tribute segment to Ronnie James Dio, who was supposed to play this festival with Heaven and Hell as well before he died. Lars, Scott, Dave, and Kerry reminisced about Ronnie and their memories meeting him and playing with him, which was really cool! Everyone at the theater responded to that nicely! When Metallica hit the stage, they had an awesome stage setup with a huge video screen and pyro and all kinds of bells and whistles, and luckily, their music lived up to the presentation! They played many of their greatest hits, and they sounded very tight, though I do have complaints. The fire in James Hetfield's voice isn't there as much, and it sounded like he tried too hard at various parts. Also, the downtuning was really evident on a number of songs. Still, they were awesome, and thankfully didn't play anything from their mid-90s albums or "St. Anger"! There was a moment where we could see what was on James' guitar pick, which I won't spoil, but everyone loved that! And then, to kick off the encore, Metallica were joined on stage by Megadeth, Anthrax, and Dave from Slayer (where were the rest of them?) to play Diamond Head's "Am I Evil?", and that was a surreally awesome moment! Never would I have thought I'd see James Hetfield and Dave Mustaine share the stage again, I think Hell froze over!

Overall, that was a fun way to see the four kings of thrash, and I definitely think Galaxy should show more metal concerts there, cause if something else huge is there, it'll be worth seeing too, I think! There were some general camera issues, a glitch during Slayer, and it ran long, but no worries! Hopefully The Big Four tour together in North America in the future! Can you imagine if they all played HERE? One can dream!

However, because "The Big Four" ran long (it ended around quarter to 11), I actually missed the first half of Ultraviolence's first set at Coch's Corner, but that wasn't going to stop me from going! I've missed seeing them too often already as it was! I made it there mid-song and settled into the closest booth possible and got ready for some filthy dirty drunk n' roll! Now you know how I've said that Ultraviolence have an AC/DC-ish sound? Well, guess what the first full song they played when I got there was? "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)"! And I have got to say, frontman Turi Mercuri has a great Brian Johnson-esque voice, I can see him fronting an AC/DC cover band if he wanted to go that route! But good thing they don't, cause they have some great originals and covers of other bands to go around! Their set had a number of covers from many different bands, ranging from Twisted Sister and Motley Crue to Led Zeppelin and Motorhead (bassist Jordan Beer'd handled vocals there) to even some Elvis Presley! Plus, they threw in their originals like "Hey Li'l Mama", "Queen Heartbreaker", and "Devil's Little Girl", that are full of raw hard drinking energy that the crowd ate up!

Turi Mercuri's a great frontman, and not just vocally, he was all over the place, jumping on tables, singing to and with the fans there (I got to sing along with the chorus of "Rock N' Roll"), and engaging in some funny on-stage banter! Actually, he and the rest of the band are all very nice guys, they're class acts and I got to chat with them during their first break, which was really awesome! I even got my CD autographed, thanks guys! Andrew Postlethwaite was great all night on guitar, though it seemed like he was hidden a lot of the time, maybe it was just my angle of the stage. Jordan Beer'd ruled on bass, he's gonna go far himself, and Phil Elliot kept the beat nicely on drums, he had some great licks! The crowd, thought not humongous, were great considering this was a Tuesday night concert, and everyone there was getting into it and having a good time, singing along and talking with the band, it was a great environment!

I'm dead honest when I say this: I haven't had this much fun at an out-of-town-headlined bar concert since Ministry of Zen were here last, and even then, there might be some dispute! Ultraviolence are entertaining, they have a great sound, they're nice guys, and they'll get you moving and grooving! The horns and beers were flying, and rightfully so! At points, it didn't even feel like some Tuesday concert! If you weren't there last night, you missed out big time! But keep in mind that Ultraviolence end their summer tour here on July 31st, so go to that concert, you'll thank me later! As you can tell, I took lots of photos, though excuse the quality, the lighting in Coch's Corner wasn't great for photo taking, so the setting made them grainier than I'd like. Click here to check them out, and yes, I got a video too! Here's what I got, Ultraviolence playing their original song "Devil's Little Girl"!

I'll leave this post there for today, but here's what to look out for on the SMS! Tomorrow's post is solely dedicated to previewing this weekend's local metal concerts, including the big Tesla show at Kewadin Casino on Saturday! Friday will have a news post with lots of updates that I need to get through, and also, keep an eye out for my newest profiles of out-of-town bands with local members (this month: The Disciples of Rock & Violet Fuse) between Saturday and Wednesday! And remember, the SMS' 3rd anniversary is ONE WEEK FROM SUNDAY! Stay tuned for more news and updates as they come in!